Lenticular lenses affixed to respective substrates bearing respective lens-resolvable linear-patterned encoded images are commercially available. The lines from the patterned image must be in alignment with the lenticules of the lenticular lens in order to form a readily viewable resolved image. Known lenticular lens/patterned image-bearing substrate combinations have generally met this requirement by permanently affixing the substrate directly onto the back of the lenticular lens or by directly printing the patterned image onto the back of the lenticular lens.
Such substrates in combination with lenticular lenses are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,488,452 to Goggins, U.S. Pat. No. 5,568,313 to Steenblik et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,964 to Taylor et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,461,495 to Steenblik et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,335 to Fotland, U.S. Pat. No. 4,082,433 to Appledorn et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,937,565 to Alasia, U.S. Pat. No. 3,538,632 to Anderson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,119,195 to Braunhut.
While known lenticular lens-containing promotional items provide a user entertainment and provide some degree of interaction, they can be further improved by increasing the level of interaction such as by letting the user properly align the lenticules of the lenticular lens with the lines of a linear-patterned image of a puzzle.
Puzzles comprising a plurality of unencoded image-bearing pieces have been known for centuries. The pieces generally have unique shapes which can be assembled in a unique manner to form an assembled image. The puzzle pieces heretofore have always borne an image portion that was readily viewable and discernible.
Thumb puzzles, or slide puzzles, comprising plural unencoded image-bearing pieces assembled in a frame have been known for decades. Such puzzles have generally comprised plural slidable pieces each of which bears an unencoded readily viewable and discernible image portion. When the pieces are assembled in an appropriate manner, a coherent unencoded readily viewable and discernible image is formed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,418 to Gilbert et al. discloses a slide puzzle having a transparent first image plane superposing a second image plane. The first image plane comprises plural slidable transparent first tiles several or all of which bear sections of a first image. The second image plane comprises an image bearing sheet or plural slidable second tiles several or all of which bear sections of a second image.
Other slide puzzles shaped as cubes, planes, cylinders or polygonal structures are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,845,904, 5,470,065, 5,267,732, 5,116,053, 5,074,561, 4,949,969, 3,829,101, 5,529,301, 4,872,682, 4,269,414, 4,097,049, 5,060,948, 4,927,150 and 4,422,641. However, none of these prior art puzzles incorporate sliding pieces that are actually decoding lenses that decoding encoded images which they superpose.
Thus, to date, there has been no puzzle available for momentarily aligning plural decoding lenses with corresponding encoded image portions on a substrate to form an unencoded and preferably assembled image. It is an object of the invention to provide such a method and apparatus.